Little Girl Lost
by minlin
Summary: Christian has taken Emily, can she brought home safely?  Perhaps, with some help from an unexpected source.
1. Chapter 1

I still don't own 'The Gates' , and I still only do this for fun, not profit.

This is basically my AU version of the next episode. I'm sure the actual episode will be nothing like this. However, I'm using the same title (which was listed at the abc website) because I couldn't think of another.

Little Girl Lost

by Minlin

Chapter 1

Nick Monohan picked up his ringing cell and looked at the caller I.D.

"Dylan hello..."

He thought his neighbor was calling about the situation earlier in the day with Agent Russo, or possibly a 'thank you' to Sara for picking up his daughter. However he knew it wasn't anything that simple as soon as he heard the panic in the man's voice.

"Nick, I..oh god Nick, Emily's gone, she's been kidnapped!"

"Whoa, what? Dylan what happened, you picked her up here just a couple of hours ago?"

"Nick, we just went up to check on her and she's gone and there was...oh god he took her, he took her right from the house..Nick.."

The anguish in the man's voice was painful to hear.

"I'll be right over, Dylan."

He arrived at the Radcliffe home to find Dylan pacing and snarling while Claire huddled in the corner sobbing.

After several minutes he managed to get Dylan to calm down enough that he could speak coherently.

"Now from the beginning, what happened?"

"It was Christian, an old friend."

The word 'friend' was spoken like a profanity.

"We hadn't seen him for several years until recently. He was my best friend, I've known him since shortly after I was turned. He was the best man at our **wedding**..!"

Dylan picks up a vase from the end table and hurls it against the wall. His eyes are black, and he's shuddering with rage.

"It's my fault," says Claire quietly.

"Christian took Emily to get to me. He wanted me and when I said no, when I wouldn't leave Dylan he got angry."

"Claire."

"No it's true, if I hadn't gone sneaking around, if I hadn't been playing the silly slut," her voice voice broke as she began to sob, "None of this would have happened. Oh god, and now he has Emily.."

"Claire," repeats Dylan, "it's not your fault, it's **not**."

He crossed the room and embraced his wife.

Nick waited while Dylan comforted his wife. Whatever Claire might have gotten up to with this other guy, it was obvious to him the couple loved each other.

"When Claire first rejected Christian, he...assaulted her."

As a cop Nick can hear what Dylan isn't saying.

"He..?"

He doesn't like asking, he never does in cases like this.

"It was just a bite, I wasn't hurt," says Claire quickly.

She won't meet his eyes or Dylan's. Nick feels his stomach roll, it's common victim behavior. Pretend what happened wasn't that bad, and it'll be true.

Nick continues, "He forced himself on you?"

After a pause, she whispers, "Yes."

"I went after him, when I found out," says Dylan.

"I knocked him out and I tied him to a tree and I left him for the sun," the vampire's voice is eerily calm.

"He called out to me, he thought I was **joking**, that I didn't really mean it. I should have stayed. I should have stayed and watched him burn, then I would have been sure he was gone."

Nick knows he should probably be appalled that the man is so casually confessing to attempted murder, but under the circumstances he knows he'd do the same.

"I thought I'd taken care of the problem, but when we went up to check on Em, she was gone and we found this," Dylan picks up a small black jeweler's box from the table and hands it to Nick. Inside is a ring with a red stone.

"Christian offered it to me when he tried to get me to leave Dylan."

"He wants us to know it's him," said Dylan.

"He wants you to panic," replied Nick, "and do something stupid."

"Look," he continued, "you called me instead of rushing off after him half-cocked, that's good. I'll do everything I can, but you must have authorities of your own that you can also call on for help, right?"

"Not all of our kind would **approve** of our having adopted Emily. Not that most would wish her harm, and they would go after Christian, but they'd feel she should be removed from our care for safety's sake. And if she's seen anything that would give us away..."

"Could he," Nick hates to ask, "could he plan on turning her?"

"To..to turn a child," says Dylan, his voice breaking, "is one of the most serious crimes among our kind. He'd be hunted by everyone until he was captured, staked and burned. No one, not even outcasts, would give him refuge. Emi... the child would also be destroyed."

"There are some here in The Gates who'd be willing to help us," says Claire, "but there's only so much they can do."

Nick sighs, "Normally in a kidnapping case I'd call the FBI and the state cops immediately. They'd be out here going over the place with a fine tooth comb, setting up road blocks and issuing an amber alert, but in this case that's not possible."

"The first thing I'm going to do is call Leigh and have her access all the surveillance videos for the day. We'll focus on the past few hours, but since we don't know if Christian might not have been staking you out for a while, we'll check them all."

"Now, would he have had trouble getting her to go with him? Would she have struggled? Tried to get away?"

"No, Emily quite likes 'Uncle Christian'. As long as he acted in his usual friendly manner, she'd have gone with him willingly."

Claire nods in agreement, "He makes her laugh, she'd never never think he meant her any harm."

"Now he can't exactly stay in The Gates, but do you know of anywhere he might go? Does he live in the area? Own any property? Even if he's not there right now, we might find information that could help us find him."

"He has an apartment in Franklin," says Claire.

"Ok, that's a start. Let me get Leigh started on the video search then we can figure out what to do next."

Nick quickly called the deputy, explaining the situation and what was required of her.

"Christian won't go **too** far," Dylan tells Nick when he gets off the phone.

"He'll want to be close enough to watch the fun."

"Christian always did like to see his enemies squirm," agrees Claire.

"Can vampires be tracked?"

At Dylan's questioning look Nick elaborates.

"Do they leave a trace scent that could be followed?"

"Well yes, but not a very strong one. Of course Emily's scent wouldn't be a problem."

"But how would you get scent dogs if you don't report the kidnapping?" asks Claire.

"Actually," answers Nick, "I think I might have a possible solution to part of the problem."

Dylan looks at him curiously.

" I need to make a private call, see if I can make arrangements, before I make any promises."


	2. Chapter 2

Still don't own 'The Gate', still only doing this for fun. And reviews. Hint,hint.

I don't think they ever mentioned Coach Ross' first name. If they did I don't remember it so I'm calling him Carl. If anyone knows what it really is, please tell me and I'll change it.

Little Girl Lost

by Minlin

Chapter 2

Nick tries, but there's no answer at Coach Ross' residence. He decides to try Karen Crezski and is luckier.

"Chief Monohan, hello. I hope everything is well?"

"Mrs. Crezski, actually I was trying to get a hold of Coach Ross. Would you know how I could get in touch with him?"

"Oh I'm afraid Carl's out of town. The football team has an away game tonight. They'll be staying over and coming back in the morning. Is there something I can help with?"

Nick sighs heavily, he'd been hoping to get in touch with Ross but perhaps Karen can be of assistance.

"Look, I don't mean to pry, but I got the impression that your- uh...that you don't get along very well with the vampires?"

There's a pause.

"We generally aren't too friendly, no."

Karen's voice is hesitant, but not hostile.

"There's been a kidnapping..."

"You suspect a vampire?"

Her voice is shocked, she may not be fond of vampires but apparently she knows they have rules.

"No! Well, yes, but nobody living in town."

He realizes he needs to explain this better.

"Emily Radcliffe..."

"Claire's daughter? Oh god, she's been taken?"

"A former friend of the family took the girl from her house. They think she went willingly, she trusts him, but have reason to believe she's in danger."

"What do you need me to do?"

There's no hesitation or wariness in her tone now. She's not speaking as a werewolf but as a mother concerned for a child, even if not her own.

"I was hoping, well, I can't call for state or federal assistance considering the nature of the case. There's a good chance that he's not very far from here and I need a way to track him. At least maybe get an idea of which direction to look."

Nick feels a bit awkward, the last thing he wants to do is offend anyone. He realizes the werewolves might not be thrilled being asked to be tracking dogs, but with a child's life at stake he can't pussy-foot around.

"Of course, I'll get in touch with the community right away. Some might be a little hard to persuade, but I'll bring them around."

Nick feels a brief flash of pity for anyone not immediately agreeable. He has a feeling that Karen Crezski's methods of persuasion are **very** effective.

"We'll meet you at the Radcliffe's in about 30 minutes," she tells him.

...

Exactly 33 minutes later the Radcliffe's doorbell rang. Nick had told Dylan and Claire that he'd gotten help, and from who, they were more than willing to accept.

"Karen, thank you," said Claire shakily, "Thank you so much."

"Claire," the blond came forward and put a gently hand on the other woman's shoulder.

"How are you holding up?"

Claire eyes teared, but she kept control.

"We'll do all we can to find her," Karen reassured her, "I promise you."

Nick realizes that while werewolves and vampires may not get along, apparently Karen and Claire **do**. There's probably an interesting story there.

Karen turned to Nick, "Several people volunteered immediately but I figured it might be a bit noticeable if there were suddenly two dozen large dogs running around a specific, small area. Four of the volunteers came with me..."

"Five," said a voice from the doorway.

They turn to see Lukas Ford standing in the doorway.

"Eight actually," said a girl standing beside him who Nick didn't recognize.

"Please let me help," said Lukas directly to Nick, "you helped my mom and I when we needed it. **Please**, I want to help."

"Lukas **is** pretty much the best tracker around Mrs. Crezski. You know that."

"That's true Lexy but we're not going to be hunting deer, we're hunting a vampire. It's much more dangerous."

"More dangerous than getting shot by that hunter?" asks Lukas,"more dangerous than living with my dad?"

Karen flushes and drops her eyes.

"What does your Mom say about this?"asks Nick.

"She understands that I want to do this."

"I'll give her a call, **if** she tells me it's ok, then you can help. **BUT** you will do exactly what I tell you, up to and including go home."

The boy's smile is blinding. Nick feels a twinge of unease, he's so young, but they need him.

The girl, Lexy, puts her two cents in.

"We; Mickey, Greg and I, came along as back-up. Greg's almost as good a tracker as Lukas, and Mickey and I are the fastest. We figured we could be your reserve group."

"And how do **your** parents feel about this?"

"Actually," says Karen, "since Lukas is their Alpha, there probably wouldn't be much of an objection."

"I didn't force them," says Lukas quickly, "I told them the situation and they offered."

Nick nods, "Ok, let me call your mom," and he's pretty sure he already knows the outcome of this phone call, "and then we'll get started."

tbc...

...

Since most of the other wolves in Lukas' pack haven't been named, I'm naming them. I'll be naming or creating other minor characters as necessary.


	3. Chapter 3

This is a **lot** later than I intended to post this. Not only did real life kind of kick me in the butt, I also experienced some computer problems for several days. Both of these things combined mean I wasn't able to work on this for a while, sorry.

'The Gates' still aren't mine, and I'm still poor, so I'm not making a profit.

Little Girl Lost

by Minlin

chapter 3

Emily happily hummed along with the radio as the car moved through the night. She'd been surprised when Uncle Christian had shown up at her window, but had eagerly let him in.

"Uncle Christian! When did you get here?"

He'd smiled and made a shushing gesture.

"Careful sweetheart, we don't want Mommy and Daddy to hear."

She'd only had a second to wonder at this before he'd winked at her.

"We don't want to spoil the surprise!"

He'd quickly instructed her to pack her smaller suitcase, the one for going away for the weekend, with enough clothes for a couple days and nodded when she asked if she could bring Llewellyn, her bear.

As Uncle Christian lowered her bag through the window she asked, "Should I leave a note for Mommy and Daddy?"

He'd grinned, "Oh don't worry pumpkin, I've taken care of it. Mommy and Daddy will know you're with me."

They'd quickly made their way to a waiting car, parked a few houses down. As Emily buckled herself in she looked up and gasped.

"Uncle Christian, you're hurt! What happened?"

There was a red, angry looking welt on his forehead. For a brief moment something not so friendly flashed in his eyes, then it was gone.

"I'm afraid something I had cooking unexpectedly blew up in my face, and I got burned. It's not as bad as it looks, in fact it's doing much better now. I was careless, it's a good reminder for me to be more careful next time."

He reached over and gently ruffled her hair.

"Where are we going Uncle Christian?"

"It's a surprise sweetie. But trust me," he beamed down at her, "it's going to be fun."

Christian started the car and quietly pulled out into the road.

...

As Nick expected, Mrs. Ford has no objection to her son helping them.

Karen introduces the four adult volunteers.

Wayne Schweiger, who Nick recognizes as the owner of the gas station/garage across the street from the police station. He's in his sixties with a slight paunch and iron gray hair styled in a crew cut.

According to Karen he's head of the volunteer fire dept. for The Gates.

Leonard Burke is in his late 20s and actually knows Emily. He's the gym teacher at the grammar school. Nick gets the impression that the lanky redhead takes the kidnapping of one of 'his kids' very personally.

The third volunteer, stockbroker Don Miller, rubs Nick the wrong way. He's making it **quite** clear that he has no fondness for vampires. He keeps wrinkling his nose like there's a bad smell, and he glares whenever Claire or Dylan get close. He wonders why the hell the man volunteered to help until he overhears Lexy and Mickey discussing his 'thing' for Karen Crezski. From the way the teens are talking the matter is common knowledge. They don't seem to think much of his chances with the elegant blonde. Nick silently agrees with them. Miller may look like he stepped off the cover of one of those romance novels that are Sara's occasional guilty pleasure, but he comes across as style with no substance.

The fourth volunteer, Abigail Nguyen, makes up for Miller however. Approximately 50 years old , about 5 feet tall and at best estimate no more that 102 lbs. soaking wet, at first glance she's not the most impressive person the chief has ever met. That quickly changes when she gets a blushing Miller to mumble an apology to Claire with no more than a sharp look and the slow raising of one eyebrow, and when he notices that the four teenagers came to attention like soldiers in the presence of a five star general. Upon being asked, a grinning Burke explains that Ms. Nguyen is a first grade teacher at the school and all werewolf children start off in her classroom.

"She's also the one who instructs them all in pack protocol and proper behavior. After their parents, she's the first authority figure any of them deal with regularly. There isn't one of our kids who wouldn't jump through flaming hoops if Miss Abby asked them to. Of course it goes both ways. Anyone dumb enough to try and mess with the cubs would get their still beating heart handed to them."

A few minutes later Nick gets a call from Leigh. She's reviewing all the surveillance videos and is paying especially close attention to the area near the Radcliffe residence. So far she hasn't found anything but there's still a lot more footage to view. Nick thanks her and asks that she keep him posted.

Nick has Dylan take him, Burke and Lukas to Emily's bedroom. While the werewolves acquaint themselves with Emily's scent; her bedding provides a more than adequate sample, Nick instructs Dylan to see if anything is missing.

"So ," says Nick, "three outfits, a suitcase and her bear? Is that all?"

"As far as I can tell," replies the worried father.

"Claire may be able to tell if there's anything else missing."

"We'll have her double check just to be sure."

"I think we've gotten Emily's scent," announces Burke.

"There are other scents here," says Lukas , "they aren't human but I'm not sure if they're the kidnapper or you or Mrs. Radcliffe."

The boy looks embarrassed, "I, uh, I need to ..to be able to tell them apart I'll have to..."

Burke takes pity on the kid, "We need to familiarize ourselves with you and your wife's smell to be able to tell them from the kidnapper."

"Ah," says Dylan in understanding.

"Will my shirt do?"

At the blushing teen's nod Dylan quickly removes his shirt and hands it to him. Nick can't help but admire the man's aplomb as he stands there bare chested while two people he barely knows thoroughly sniff his shirt.

"We'll need something of your wife's as well," says Burke as he hands back the shirt.

Dylan nods, "I'll ask her."

He starts to walk from the room, then pauses.

"I...we appreciate your help more than you can imagine," he says softly.

"Hey, our kind may not always get along," says Burke, "but **Emily** is what's important here. Not our differences. We're happy to help."


	4. Chapter 4

No I still haven't managed to get ownership of 'The Gates'. However I have, finally, managed to update this.

Little Girl Lost

by Minlin

chapter 4

Dylan comes back a few minutes later with a blouse of Claire's.

"She wore this yesterday, will the scent be fresh enough?"

Burke assures him it will be fine and Dylan hands the garment over. He turns away as the two werewolves 'examine' his wife's blouse. Nick thinks it's more for Lukas' comfort than his own. The teenager is blushing, though his embarrassment isn't stopping him from doing a thorough job.

After a couple of minutes they return the blouse to Dylan and make another circuit of the room.

Once the two werewolves have a short, whispered discussion and they both go back toward the dresser.

Several minutes later Lukas says, "He was hurt. It didn't happen here, but there's a faint smell of blood and it's definitely not your daughter's."

"We had...an altercation yesterday. It was probably from that."

Dylan tells the rest of the story as simply and quickly as possible. Lukas eyes flash golden and he growls softly. Burke puts a hand gently on his arm in a calming gesture.

"He'd have had to, uh, eat to get his strength back right?"

Burke's question seems to surprise Dylan.

"Yes, **damn**, I should have thought of that! He'd definitely need to feed right away, possibly more than once. That might be traceable, when Christian's angry he tends to get careless."

"So we should probably also have a group check the spot where you took Christian," said Nick, "See if we can trace him from there. He might have a place that he'll return to."

"I volunteer for that," Burke announces. When Lukas looks like he'll object he adds, "You're the better nose kid, so it's best to have you tracking the girl."

Lukas nods, "Okay, but please take Mr. Miller with you. You know he won't listen to the Chief or me, and Mrs. Crezski already looks like she's about to neuter him."

Burke winces, "Alright, but then I get Ms. Nguyen. I know **she** can control him."

The boy snickers, "Miss Abby will have him crying for his mommy if he tries to pull anything with her around."

They go back downstairs and arrange who will be in which group.

Burke, Miss Abby, Don Miller and Greg will be going with Dylan to where he earlier tried to 'dispose' of Christian.

Lukas, Wayne, and Lexy will be with Nick. They're going to try to pick up a trail from the house or, when Leigh gets back to him, from whatever point Christian's car can be placed last.

Mickey, to his initial disappointment, is staying at the house with Karen and Claire. He becomes much more cheerful when he learns that Leigh, who he refers to as 'Deputy Hottie', will be joining them. He also offers to take an occasional walk around the house just in case it's being watched.

"Don't worry," he assures them, "if I see anything suspicious I'll let someone know right away. I'm not about to take on a crazy vamp on my own."

There's a bit of friction when Don tries to exert his supposed authority over 'his' group. However Miss Abby quickly diffuses the situation by simply stating how things will go.

"Mr. Radcliffe will lead of course, since he knows the way. May Greg and I ride with you? Then Len can follow with Donald in his truck."

She smiles at Dylan, hooks her arm through Greg's and leads her group out the door with no more fuss.

Lukas, Mickey and Lexy break into snickers the moment the door closes.

"If we ever have to go to war," announces Lukas, "I want Miss Abby in charge. She'd end the whole thing in two days, tops."

"And probably make the enemy cry," adds Mickey.

"No," said Lexy "she'd just explain to them, in **the voice,** exactly why they were wrong and that they should stop at once and not do it again."

Lukas' nods, "No one can go against **the voice**."

Nick notices both Karen and Wayne grinning, and even Claire has a faint smile, and is grateful to the kids for momentarily lightening the mood. However it's only a temporary reprieve and sadly he has to end it.

"Well once we track them down maybe we can send in Miss Abby, but we have to find them first."

He has everyone's attention now, and it's time to get started. Emily's counting on them.

tbc


	5. Chapter 5

I'm **so** sorry it's taken me this long to update. I feel like a dork for letting this go for so long. Well, here's the next chapter such as it is.

Still own nothing, please don't sue me.

Little Girl Lost

by Minlin

chapter 5

Leigh arrives about twenty minutes later with the surveillance discs and a laptop.

"There's a shot of a car leaving that I think might be our guy," she says putting in the disc, "but he managed to keep the camera from getting a real clear shot of his face. I figured you'd want to call the guard and check yourself, I wasn't sure what kind of cover story you were going to use."

"Mrs. Sullivan's away visiting her sister in Iowa and I got a call that someone was seen skulking around the house. The description of the car seen will, surprisingly, match that of our kidnapper."

"That'll work. Here's the car now."

Leigh freezes the video then advances it slowly, frame by frame. They watch as the car pulls up by the security post at the gate. The driver doesn't pull all the way forward, and he opens the door a bit and leans out just enough so the door half blocks his face from the camera. He's gesturing as if he's asking for directions. Nick sees Eddie smile and nod and then point and gesture back. The driver gets back into the car and Eddie opens the gate. He waves as the vehicle drives off.

"Can you get the number on the plate?"

Leigh focuses on the rear of the car and magnifies the view.

"There we are. I can run it, though I'm not sure when it will go through."

"Report it as missing," Nick tells her, "that should help."

"I'm also checking anything the cameras here near the house picked up."

Nick leaves the deputy to her work. He crosses to where Karen and Claire are sitting on the couch.

"You double checked Emily's room, was there anything else missing that Dylan hadn't noticed?"

Claire nods her head, "Her locket is gone."

She continues, "Dylan gave it to her when she was five, it belonged to his mother. Emily doesn't wear it often because it's rather delicate, but she wore it today for good luck at the spelling bee. I saw her take it off and put it away when she first got home, but now it's gone."

"Can you think of any reason Emily would have taken it?"

Claire grimaces, "She likes to wear it for 'special occasions'. If Christian told her they were going somewhere special..."

Out of the corner of his eye Nick sees Lukas come back into the room and approach Leigh.

The four werewolves had gone outside to see if they could pick up some trace scent of Christian's vehicle to make it easier to identify when tracking it later. The teen is speaking softly to Leigh who, when she notices her boss watching, motions him over.

"Can we go outside for a second?" asks the boy quietly.

Once Nick has closed the door behind them Lukas tells him, "We found some footprints, and a faint trace of blood."

"Human blood?"

"Yeah, but not the girl's, Emily's, blood. Still I didn't want to upset Mrs. Radcliffe, so I thought it might be better to talk out here."

Nick appreciates Lukas' discretion.

Lexy and Mickey approach them, Mickey pulling on his shirt, and he assumes the animal sniffing around underneath the window is Wayne.

"The blood we're scenting, faint as it is, belongs to someone much older than Emily. We found the strongest trace of it on a footprint by the bushes near the window."

"He must have had uh..something.. to eat...and stepped in some of the blood."

Mickey's tone and expression are both squeamish. Nick not as surprised by this as he might have been before. The teen wolves seem somehow less alien than the adults. They remind him of other kids he knows, including his own. He can't see them as monsters, but then his idea of what makes a monster has changed especially since moving to the Gates.

"You're **positive** it's not Emily's blood?"

"I can smell alcohol. Whoever's blood it is had been doing a lot of drinking," Lukas answers.

While Nick's not happy that Christian's killed someone, he's relieved to know that the blood doesn't belong to Emily. If any harm comes to the child he knows there'll be no holding back Dylan from wreaking a very bloody revenge. Frankly, he doubts he'd try.


End file.
